The Smiths (album)
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| The Smiths | |||||
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| Studio album by The Smiths | |||||
| Released | February 20, 1984 | ||||
| Recorded | Spring - Autumn 1983 | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||
| Length | 45:36 | ||||
| Label | Rough Trade | ||||
| Producer | John Porter, The Smiths | ||||
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| The Smiths chronology | |||||
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The Smiths is the debut album by English alternative rock band The Smiths, released on February 20, 1984. The album was well received by the critics as well as the public, and it established The Smiths as a prominent band in the 1980s music scene in the United Kingdom.
In 1989, the album was ranked #22 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 481 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
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[edit] Overview
The album was particularly important and influential because it went against the grain of the popular music of the time.[citation needed] Its sound stood in stark opposition to the synthpop or post-punk genres, coming off as 60s melodic guitar rock made unique by Johnny Marr's layered, note-intensive playing and Morrissey's superficially despondent but wit-filled lyrics, unique voice, and contrary song structure.
[edit] Cover
The sleeve for The Smiths was designed by Morrissey. It features American actor Joe Dallesandro in a cropped still from Andy Warhol's 1968 film Flesh.
[edit] Track listing
- "Reel Around the Fountain"
- "You've Got Everything Now"
- "Miserable Lie"
- "Pretty Girls Make Graves"
- "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"
- "Still Ill"
- "Hand in Glove"
- "What Difference Does It Make?"
- "I Don't Owe You Anything"
- "Suffer Little Children"
"This Charming Man" did not appear on the UK and European releases of The Smiths. It was, however, included on the American release because it hadn't been released as a single in the States, and was also on the original cassette release of the album. When WEA re-issued all Smiths albums in 1992, the American format was used.
"Reel Around the Fountain", the lead-off track the album, was pressed and due to be released as a single in the autumn of 1983, but was aborted because the tabloid The Sun accused Morrissey of condoning paedophilia. The song lifts a few lines from the film A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney.
[edit] Troy Tate sessions
The first recording sessions for this album were produced by Troy Tate from The Teardrop Explodes. Unsatisfied with his work as a producer, the Smiths re-recorded their debut with producer John Porter, and it was these recordings that formed the finished album. Most of the shelved Troy Tate recordings are available only in bootleg form, although the Tate-produced versions of "Jeane" (which the Smiths did not re-record with Porter) and "Pretty Girls Make Graves" were used as B-sides on official Smiths releases.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] The band
[edit] Additional musicians
- Annalisa Jablonska - female voice on "Pretty Girls Make Graves" and "Suffer Little Children"
- Paul Carrack - keyboard instruments
[edit] Technical staff
- John Porter – producer, remixer ("Hand in Glove")
- The Smiths – producers ("Hand in Glove")
- Phil Bush, Neil King – engineers
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